When You Dream...

When You Dream…

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When You Dream Leigh Blocker Sky’s Limit Publications Huntsville, Arkansas May 10, 2013

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Table of Contents Part 1: It Was All a Dream…

1. The Train Ride 2. The Lesson of the Peacock 3. That Goddess 4. The Old Tree 5. If I Was the Leader Part 2: When You Have a Dream…

1. Art 2. If I Could Be Any Emotion…

3. Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming 4. Relatable Quote 5. A Lesson From Me Part 3: Speak Your Dreams 1. Best Friends vs. Friends 2. Growing Up 3. Why We Don’t Fit In 4. Art is Like Life 5. Would You Say Something?

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Dedication Page I would like to give thanks to everyone who has inspired me to be the person I am today. I would like to also thank my art instructor of seven years, Lisa Bauer, for helping me create art, while teaching me life lessons. Allowing me to take classes in her gallery, and watch her create art has helped me deal with people, learn about different artists, and learn that everyone is different.

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Part 1: It Was All a Dream‌

Everyone has dreams. Some people have nightmares, while others have happy dreams. Some people dream in color, and others dream in black and white. I tend to only remember good dreams and many stories in this section reflect on some of those dreams. Others could have been dreams somewhere, somehow. I have and imaginative side that I can be very creative with. M y creative side inspires me to create my writings.

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The Train Ride “I didn’t know exactly where the train was going. After paying my fare, I simply stood on the platform waiting for it to whisk me away to somewhere, anywhere but here. And that’s when it happened.

All I wanted was to get away from it all. The loud obnoxious people, the smog, and the smells, but I got a lot more than that. All I remember was a loud explosion and a flash, and then things got weirder and weirder from there. I was like in a dream, but at the same time I wasn’t. There was a kind of haze everywhere and sparks of fire. W here was I? Chicago? M aybe.

I really couldn’t tell. All of the people in this town were strange. They would all keep to themselves, and look at me as if I was a mass murderer.

They all would keep looking over their shoulders as if something was following them. They all had fear plastered in her eyes. I kept w alking, in fear of the people in this city. I turned a corner behind an old pizzeria.

The sign said open, but if looked as if it had been closed since the beginning of time. And then…

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The Lesson of the Peacock Once in a zoo in M iami, there was a peacock. He was the most prized bird in all of Florida. He would always flaunt his blue and golden feathers to make the other birds in the zoo feel horrible about themselves. He always got all of the attention from the people. They would constantly flock his cage and take pictures with these flashing lights that they called cameras.

But, one day the people stopped coming to the peacock’s cage. Instead, they went to a new place called Flamingo Island, a new attraction at the zoo. All of a sudden, he was not the face of the zoo anymore, that stupid flamingo was. The peacock thought to himself, “W ho does he think he is coming into this zoo?” “I am much prettier than him and I am a nice shade of blue, he is pink.” The peacock felt miserable, because he did not have anyone to talk to. All of the humans were busy with the flamingo, and he never had made friends with the other birds in the zoo. Suddenly, he had an idea. So, he went to every bird enclosure in the zoo. His first stop was the penguin enclosure. He waltzed into the cage like he owned it. But, to his surprise, he was spit on by the other penguins. They told him to get lost, and that they hated him. So, he left the penguin’s habitat, but he realized something. One of his feathers had turned grey. Next, he went to the toucan exhibit. As he walked in, the toucans threw berries at him and told him he was a nobody now, and that they didn’t even want to look at him. The peacock had never felt so miserable in all of his life.

Everyone had always adored him, but now they hated him. And now, all of his feathers were grey and brown. W hat did he do to deserve to be treated like trash? Then he thought to himself, they did to me exactly what I did to them for those many years. Then he realized that no one will like you if you are a jerk, and act better than everyone else. The humans only liked him because they were making a profit from his beauty. He would have so many friends if he would have cared.

Lesson of the Peacock: Your feathers will be dull on the outside, if what is on the inside is dull too.

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That Goddess That goddess…

That goddess is…

That goddess is sweet…

That goddess is sweet and kind…

W ho is that goddess? Can you guess?

Everyone…

Everyone thinks…

Everyone thinks that…

Everyone thinks she is the greatest goddess of all…

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The Old Tree Up in the woods, behind the old house stood a tree. This tree was no ordinary tree for it curled, and blossomed in so many different places. It had notches, scrapes, and cuts from many years of play. There were nests of all sorts, the big and the small; the birds adored this old tree. But, one day a poor starving old man passed its path and decided to chop away.

This tree was no ordinary tree you see, it was lined with gold, and had leaves of silver lace. W hile chopping the tree, with a big metal axe, the weak, tired old man thought to himself, “How rich I will be, no one needs this tree, and the birds can find somewhere else to stay.” Once the tree hit the ground with a thud, the man laughed a hardy laugh, and hauled it away. To his neighbor’s house he went and sold its branches for millions.

He bought some new clothes, and a new ride. A king could not even be compared to the man, he was just too rich. Years passed the man without one single disturbance. But then, on the tenth year, the birds millions of them, blue, red, and black swarmed his new house. They pecked and pecked at his window and tore up the roof. Finally, once they gained entrance, they swept the old man away from his house and his riches.

They took him to the spot where that lovely tree sat, so many years ago.

Now in its place stood the most ugly, horrible tree. The tree snatched the man up with a great force and up into the branches he went. The one silver lace was now webs of black fury. Suddenly, the feeling of greed overcame the man. He felt as if all of the rich things in his life were not important. But, none of that mattered now because there in a branch, sat a bird of magnificent color, and feathers. He told the old man of his faults, and showed him pictures of the men who had chopped that tree down before. But, something seemed funny to the man. All of the trees had an odd resemblance to the men who had chopped it down, and now the tree looked like him. Then, the bird spoke, “Become more greedy than the one before, and become the tree; one comes along more greedy than you they will too. Then, the greedy man realized. He was the greedy, old tree.

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If I Was the Leader If I was stranded on an island with a bunch of random people I didn’t know, I would assign everyone jobs. W ithout everyone doing a specific job, and contributing to our survival, there would be chaos. I would also require the now “islanders” to keep their clothes on. In the book Lord of the Flies, many of the boys that were on the island were not very organized, and many of them ran chaotically around the island.

I would try and have more order.

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Part 2: When You Have a Dream‌ I believe that everyone, including me, has at least one dream or goal they want to accomplish. M any of my goals are written throughout these stories. Other stories in this section could be dreams of other people, and how they should go about following them. The stories in this section also include how to not let others stop you from your dreams. I think it’s important for me, as a person, to accomplish my dreams, some of my dreams will be harder than others to accomplish, but I have a mindset to where nothing can stop me. I may seem quiet, but I have a great imagination.

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Art Art. Art is something that comes naturally. Artistic talent comes from being inspired for something around you, or wanting to solve problems in the world by creating art to explain your feelings. Art comes in so many expressive ways. You can write poetry, and novels. Create paintings in abstract, or realism. You can even break multi-colored glass and stick it on a tree with peanut butter and call it art. Art is you. Art is whatever you feel needs to be expressed. And ya, people can say, “That painting is absolutely disgusting, it has way to much black in It.” Or, “W hy would you put that color there?” W ell, that is there opinion and it should not matter. M any great artists were nobodies living on the streets, burning their artwork to survive. But, someone took the time to actually look and see how great their artwork really was. You should do whatever you want to express yourself, and nobody should stop you. You are you.

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If I Could Be Any Emotion‌ If I could be any emotion I would be happiness and laughter. I would try to make sure everyone was smiling all of the time. Some people have the greatest smiles, but they are too depressed or down to show them. I would go around and try to make everyone laugh when they were crying. I would try to make the bad situation go away. Everyone has laughed at some point in their lives. For all the people who have never laughed, well, they just need something to laugh about. I would be that something.

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Just Keep Swimming‌ At the first of the year in band, I was number 3 out of 9 in my section, the flutes. Then, I needed to get braces and we got reordered by how good we could play. W hen we had to play to be reordered, I played horrible. I played wrong notes, I slurred where the notes were supposed to be tonged, and I couldn’t even make a sound without it sounding airy. I was pushed down to number six. I had never been lower than third chair in my life!

Eventually, after weeks of slurred speech and a whole lot of practice every night, I worked myself up to number four. I kept practicing, and practicing, and I became second chair. Now, I work really hard trying to figure out how to play my flute correctly. That proves that if you just keep swimming you will eventually reach the top.

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Relatable Quote I believe everyone was built to live not to last. W e were created to survive and thrive. Hard times will always come, family will die, people will move away, you will cry, you will fall, but in the end, it is all worth it. W e were built strong. W e should stay strong.

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A Lesson from Me Dear Friend, I know that you don’t have any tumbling skills what so ever, but because you are willing to learn I will teach you. Before you even think about doing a simple cartwheel, you need to have balance and coordination. If you don’t have balance or coordination, you don’t have tumbling. Tumbling does not come naturally. You have to work at it, and you cannot have fear. Now, to do a round-off back handspring, which is the base for every skill you will ever do.

First, to do your round-off you need to run and put your hands on the ground with locked arms while shoving off and flipping your legs over your body and snapping them together. As soon as you land, shove off the ground again, but this time, with your feet. M ake sure you are flipping in a backwards and upwards motion or you will land on your head or neck.

Once your hands touch the ground, shove off again and flip, hopefully landing on your feet.

Now, that wasn’t so hard was it? Actually, it’s harder than it looks, but I promise that you will eventually be able to do it.

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Part 3: Speak Your Dreams…

Sometimes, I have a hard time saying what I really think. Actually, I have a hard time talking at all. I don’t like to start the conversation. I can talk, and talk, and talk, if someone else says something first. It’s funny right?

I don’t want to be hated by the person sitting next to me. So, if I stay quiet, they won’t have anything to hate me for, right? I think expressing yourself is one of the most important things a person can do, even though I am quiet most of the time.

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Best Friends vs. Friends W e all have that one friend that we will never get mad at, and will always remember. There are a lot of differences between friends and BEST FRIENDS. Friends will borrow your shirt and give it back the next day, while BEST FRIENDS will stain it, rip it up, and stomp on it and then give it back to you three years later, but they will have a tissue ready for you when they do return it. Friends will bail you out of jail and tell you what you did wrong. BEST FRIENDS will be standing right there next to you saying, “M an we really messed up, I don’t think we should try that again!”

Friends will give you their umbrella when it rains, and BEST FRIENDS will take your yelling, “Hurry up you’re gonna get wet!” No matter how crazy your friends are, BEST FRIENDS will always be there for you.

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Growing Up Theme: Growing up isn’t a bad thing, there will always be something new for you to discover.

Opinion: Growing up is growing up. It happens to everyone and everything. Trees start out as seeds, but end up being really tall. Babies turn into adults. Puppies turn into dogs, and kittens turn into full grown cats. Sure, there are a lot of nerve racking things that occur while you grow up, but that is what makes growing up fun. Life would get boring if you stayed the same forever.

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Why We Don’t Fit In M any people think that they don’t fit in because they don’t have good enough shoes or clothes. They might not own Under Armor or M iss-M e Jeans. Some people don’t think they fit in because they might like something different than everybody else. Or, they don’t want to follow the rules of that group. I don’t think that anyone should be excluded from a group of people or club because of what they look like, or what they believe.

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Art is Like Life Art is all about perspective; it is not wrong or right it’s you.

You are the creator of your work if someone doesn’t like it, tough luck.

Luck is what you have if you are never criticized.

Criticized; a word that should never be used.

Art is like life, we should not judge other people.

People are all different so what does it matter?

M atter is, you will never find a perfect human being.

Being criticized is one thing, but hurting someone is another.

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Would You Say Something?

If someone was making fun of your best friend, would you say something, or just follow the crowd? If someone was beating up on a mentally challenged kid, would you get him off, or just blend into your surroundings? Some people just blend in, while others say too much. I will do what is right, but if I think that someone else can handle the situation, then I will let them. W e need to say something, when a situation is not right. Or, someone or something could be seriously hurt.

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